


Self Care (What a Lovely Life That I Made)

by savages



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Human, Coffee Shop, Depression, Emotional Healing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Hate to Love, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Recreational Drug Use, again just weed, also a shit ton of legalities that i have done a minimal amount of research on, but yes there will be lots of mentions of weed just fyi, drug dealer theo, flower shop, haha not really you'll get what I mean by that in the second chapter, just weed and alc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:54:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29628018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savages/pseuds/savages
Summary: It's a surprise to everyone around him when Liam Dunbar suddenly comes back to town from college, claiming to have dropped out in the middle of his Junior year. Now once again living with his parents, Liam works at the local coffee shop and spends the rest of his free time just going through the motions. He's going through something for sure, but no one can figure out what. Not even his best friend, Mason. That is until a chance encounter with Theo Dunbar, Liam's self proclaimed high school nemesis. While at first the two quickly regain the somewhat hostile relationship they had back in high school, a series of events leads to the two boys submerging themselves in each other's world. Liam finds himself trusting Theo with more than he could have ever imagined, including the real reason he has moved back to Beacon Hills.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	1. chapter one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I promised myself I wasn't going to post this yet but I caved and now here I am.
> 
> Also the title is from Self Care by Mac Miller.

“I have a large half-caf Cappuccino with soy milk for Milly.”

Liam looked at the clock as he handed the customer her drink with a smile and a polite nod. It was half past three o’clock. Only thirty more minutes to go. 

Mason was supposed to pick him up as soon as his shift was over. He was absolutely dreading that interaction. Liam loved Mason, but he knew the conversation that was awaiting him once his best friend picked him up would not be a fun one. After about a week and some days of Liam dodging his phone calls and only replying to texts with one word answers, Mason had decided that enough was enough and it was time he went to see Liam himself to find out what was going on. Liam couldn’t really blame him. He  _ had  _ just suddenly announced via text message that Mason’s planned visit to Liam at his off-campus apartment was now cancelled because he had dropped out of UCSB and was moving back to Beacon Hills with his parents. Liam understood why Mason was concerned, but that didn’t exactly mean he was ready to talk about it. 

“Any plans after work?” 

Liam was taken out of his thoughts by his coworker, Corey. It was the afternoon lull, Corey often tried to make small talk to cover the silence in between customers. 

“Yeah, actually.” Liam replied, half-heartedly. “They’re uh… they’re with Mason. We’re hanging out.” If hanging out means sitting there while your best friend asks if you’ve had some sort of meltdown.

Corey makes an embarrassed face when Liam mentions Mason, a small blush creeping up to his cheeks. “Oh. You guys are still friends, huh?” 

See, Liam knew Corey in high school. It was a really small town, after all. This was only his third shift at  _ Sun and Moon, _ the coffee shop that had popped up in town after he went away to college, but he quickly found that he already knew a few of his coworkers from back in the day. Corey, in particular, he knew because of the brief yet fervent relationship the boy had with his best friend the summer after senior year. Their split was a little bittersweet, heavy on the bitter. 

“Yup, he’s picking me up here, actually.”

“Does he know I work here?” 

Oh, crap.

“Uh, it actually hasn’t come up. We’ve only had like… a three second conversation since I got back to town.” The conversation was this morning, actually, and it consisted of Mason yelling ‘You’re mom told be you work at the coffee shop now. I’m picking you up after your shift. Bye.’ into the phone before hanging up. However, he probably should’ve figured out a way to mention to his friend that he’s now working with his ex who he never quite got over, actually.

“Oh. Well… it’ll be nice to see him.” 

Liam gave him a sympathetic look. His head may feel like it’s nothing but barbed wire and tv static right now, but he was still present enough to see that the guy was quickly becoming nervous. 

“Are you nervous to see him?”

Corey stilled where he was wiping down the counter with a rag, tilting his head in thought. “No not nervous just…” He didn’t finish the sentence. Liam wasn’t really surprised at that. Corey’s always been a really shy person, even back in high school. He didn’t push for an answer.

-

There were only two other customers to come into the shop before the end of his shift. Both ridiculously difficult orders, but at least they tipped well. He had just hung up his apron on its hook in the back when he heard Mason’s startled voice from all the way at the register. 

“Oh! Uh, hi… you work here?” 

Liam heard Corey’s soft reply as he made his way from the back and over to Mason’s side.

“Yeah, uh, it’ll be three years in September.” There was just silence after that. 

Liam stood there momentarily, initially planning to stand back while he let them have a conversation, but a look at Mason’s face and he quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen.

“So! Uh, hey Mase! You ready to go? Or do you want a drink?” Liam’s voice quickly pulled the other man from his stupor.

“No!” He said a little too quickly and a little too loudly. Then, much more softly, “Uh, no we should go. We really need to talk.” He was quick to make his way out the door, but not before hesitating for a second, before calling back, “See you, Corey.”

-

Mason's forehead was currently hitting his steering wheel, repeatedly. 

“Oh fuck! Holy fucking shit!” 

Liam let himself be amused by Mason's reaction, knowing that as soon as Mason got over his shock and got back to what he was really here for, Liam was going to be a lot less amused.

“Liam what the  _ fuck!  _ You couldn’t have warned me that he would be there? Jesus fuck! I would have waited for you in the fucking car if I knew.”

“Okay first off, that’s a lot of f-bombs. Second, I’m sorry. It didn’t really occur to me.”

“Yeah, I guess a lot of things don’t occur to you lately.” Ok, here we go. “Like calling your best friend to let him know you are okay after you literally drop off the face of the earth!”

“I didn’t drop off the face of the earth.”

“NO?!” Mason straightened up and turned to look at Liam, fierceness in his eyes. “Liam, you let me know over  _ text message  _ that you were suddenly dropping out of college and moving back home and then you didn’t even bother to answer the phone when I called!!”

“I mentioned it to my mom.” He said weakly.

“And thank fuck for that! If it hadn’t been for Jenna calling me I wouldn’t have even know that you were alive, since you wouldn’t take my fucking calls.”

“My mom called you?”

Mason let out a frustrated sigh at that. “Yes, Liam. You’re mother called me. She was the one who asked me to come to Beacon Hills. She’s concerned about you and she knows you won’t open up to her.”

Liam let out a sigh as well. It sucked. He sucked. His mother had gone through enough with him, and here he was, putting her through something all over again. Even though things were tense at home right now, he didn’t want his mother any more concerned about him than she already was. 

“Liam,” Mason spoke more calmly now, having gotten most of his frustration out of the way. “What’s going on?”

Liam closed his eyes, breathing in slowly. 

No. He wasn’t ready to deal with this yet. He needed to ignore it all for just a little while longer. He couldn’t tell him the truth just yet. 

“I dropped out of school.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Yes, I know that.” Mason spoke like he was speaking to a toddler, his patience probably wearing thin again. “But the question, Liam, is  _ why? _ ”

“I don’t know, okay.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes! I don’t know.” 

Mason stared at him, deadpanned. 

“Look, Mason. You’re gonna be a scientist. You go to one of the top schools in the  _ country  _ and you’re double majoring in neuro-science and biophysics. When you graduate, you’re probably going to get a job at some big bio-medical company and be this really great, successful guy.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is you have something! You have a plan, you have a fucking passion, you have something that you  _ want _ ! Me? I have a school that I barely got into by the skin of my teeth. I have a shit gpa, and I chose a random major because my counselor told me I couldn’t register for my third year unless I declared one.”

“I thought you said you liked history?” 

“Yeah, I do. But that doesn’t mean I want to spend the rest of my life talking about it…”

Mason really, really didn’t know what to say. Liam understood that. The two had been really close growing up but that had sort of changed once they had both gone away to college. Where Mason immediately flourished once he got to UCLA, Liam had spent freshman year at UCSB drunk and feeling totally inadequate. Hearing about all of Mason’s success at college had made him happy, because he loved Mason, but it had also made him feel like he really couldn’t bring up any of his own issues, like Mason suddenly wouldn’t be able to relate to him anymore. He had never voiced any of this to him. 

“Look, I guess I just realized, albeit too late, that college just wasn’t for me.” 

“And Beacon Hills is?” Mason spoke up, tone still confused and in disbelief. “Liam, all you ever talked about when we were younger was getting out of here.”

“Well I don’t exactly have getting-out-of-here money.” Liam said. “Yeah, back at college my parents paid for everything, but that’s because I was working on a degree. They’re not exactly about to fund some sort of eat pray love expedition so I can find myself.”

Mason's face showed he was sympathetic, but Liam knew deep down he still wasn’t understanding all of this. Liam knew he should tell him the whole truth, not just the surface-level stuff, but he wasn’t ready to speak about that yet. However it still killed him that his friend was worried about him and he couldn’t make him understand the extent of it all.

“Look, I just need to be here right now so I can work and focus on saving up while I figure out what the next step in my life is. Not having to pay for rent or groceries really helps with that.”

“But why didn’t you tell me? Why ignore me?”

“Because I knew you would drop everything to come and try and talk sense into me. But my mind is made up, Mason. I’m not going back.”

He  _ couldn’t  _ go back, even if he wanted to. But Mason didn’t need to know that.

“Okay.” 

Liam looked up from where he had been burning a whole at the floor of Mason’s car.

“Okay?” He asked, hopeful the conversation was coming to an end. That his best friend would take his current explanation that he was offering and not ask further questions.

“Yes, okay. I won’t try and talk you out of it. I trust that you know yourself and what you’re getting into. Just, please promise me you won’t keep something like this from me again.”

Liam nearly let out a sigh of relief, but he stopped himself for fear of Mason taking it all back.

“Okay, I promise. I’m sorry.”

“You're forgiven. And I’m sorry, too. You know, for all the swearing and the yelling.”

“It’s fine.”

-

  
  


They were on to talking about different things by the time the In N Out employee handed them their fries and burgers. Mostly about the guy Mason had been hooking up with back in LA.

“So,” Liam spoke up with a mouth full of french fries. “How was it seeing Corey again?”

Mason gave him a death glare.

“Don’t you dare even bring that up.”

Liam laughed. He had decided that he felt good about the talk they had after all, even if he hadn’t told Mason the whole truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theo is coming in the next chapter, I promise! I am super excited for this story but also super nervous because this is the first time I ever attempt to write a WIP. However I do have a few chapters already written and a large part of the story is already planned out. Please please please leave a comment! It motivates me to write so much and I love to read them!


	2. chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in case you didn't read the tags, there will be mentions of recreational drugs (only weed) in this chapter and going forward, just and fyi.

“Do you smoke weed?”

“Huh?” 

Liam supposed Corey would try and make small talk again since they hadn’t seen a customer in about ten minutes, but that one was a really random question. 

“Sorry, that was a weird question to ask.” The other boy spoke up, a sheepish look on his face as if he had just realized what he had asked. “I have a friend who just started selling and so I’m trying to drum up some business for him.”

Liam’s eyebrows shot up at that. If Liam remembered correctly from Mason’s relationship with the shy boy, Corey didn’t even drink. 

“Wow, I didn’t know sweet, innocent Corey Bryant hung around drug dealers.” 

Corey let out a small laugh at that.

“You don’t speak to anyone like, all of highschool and suddenly they all think you’re this innocent baby who’s never even seen a beer can.” Corey laughed with a shake of his head. “Besides, this dude’s harmless. He cried last week when his cat got sick.” 

Now it was Liam’s turn to let out a laugh. A cat-loving drug dealer. Who the hell was Corey hanging around with? 

“Who the hell are you hanging around with, Corey?”

“Oh that’s right, you probably know him since he went to high school with us.” That piqued Liam’s interest. The last guy he had heard of that sold weed in Beacon Hills was Derek Hale, but that dude hadn’t been seen in ages. 

“Who is it?” 

“It’s Th-”

Corey didn’t get to finish his words since right then a customer walked into the store, the little bell on the door ringing loudly around them. Corey walked over to the espresso machine to get started on whatever the man would ask for while Liam made his way to the register to take the order. After that, a couple of high school students walked in and before they both knew it their conversation from earlier was long forgotten as they dealt with a small afternoon rush that was suddenly brought on. 

-

“So, is Mason going to pick you up again?” Corey was wiping down tables while Liam picked up chairs and hung them upside down over the table, getting ready to close down for the night.

“Nah, I’ll be walking home.” It was a little embarrassing to admit that at 21 years old Liam still had to walk home instead of take his own car, but the dude had never really learned to drive. It was a long story. “Sorry about yesterday, by the way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m not really sure what went down with you and my best friend back then, but I’m sure you were probably hurting just as much as he was. Couldn’t have been easy to see him again.” 

Corey gave him a soft look at that, like he was grateful for Liam’s words.

“It wasn’t, but at least I seemed to have gotten a little more warning than he did” 

Liam laughed, thinking back to all the glaring Mason had thrown his way the day before for that exact same reason.

“Yeah, he was pissed at me for that.” 

Corey gave him a look that let him know he wasn’t surprised at that. It reminded Liam of just how much he had liked Corey for Mason. The boy had always perfectly understood his best friend in a way no one else ever had, not even Liam. It had made Mason really happy and it had made Liam happy to see Mason happy. It was a lot of happy, until it wasn’t. Liam decided against asking Corey about it, though, not wanting to bring up any unhappy memories.

They both quieted down a little after that, mostly working in silence while the soft pop punk Corey had put on played through the shop’s speakers. Eventually, they were both done for the night and getting ready to head out.

“Hey,” Corey called out as Liam grabbed the last of his stuff and began to head towards the door. “I could give you a ride, if you want.”

“You have a car?” Liam asked with surprise. 

He knew through Mason’s relationship with Corey that the guy came from a very shitty home situation, and didn’t even live with his parents. He wasn’t expecting Corey to have the financial funds to have his own car, as bad as that sounded.

Corey shrugged at the question. “It’s my grandma’s beat up Honda. It’s like a million years old but she can’t really drive it anymore, so I do.”

“Oh.” That made sense. “Are you sure, though? It's really late. I don't want to take you out of your way.” 

“Yeah it’s fine. Besides, isn't your house like a thirty minute walk from here? That's too far, dude.”

Liam let out an embarrassed laugh at the mention of him having to walk.

“I usually take my bike but uh…. it’s currently in need of some repairments.” Don’t drink and bike, kids. 

“So yeah, no problem then, I’ll give you a ride.” Liam felt bad. He and Corey lived on opposite sides of town. But, it  _ was  _ a far ass walk to his parent’s house from here. 

“Okay. Thanks.” 

-

They were about halfway to Liam’s house when Corey got a phone call while they were at a red light. He took one look at the contact name before letting out a tired sigh and answering.

“What’s up, dude?” It reminded Liam of how he would answer a call from Mason. There was silence from Corey as he listened to whoever was on the other line.

“Are you serious?” He sounded slightly annoyed. “Dude, I just barely got off work.” There was more talking from the other line, and Corey rolled his eyes. 

Liam had never seen Corey be this mean with anyone, although this hardly even counted as mean. It was more like the kind of impatient you were with a sibling, except he knew Corey was an only child. There was more talking on the other line before Corey seemed to give in to whatever he was being asked to do.

“Fine,” He said with an exasperated sigh. “You’re lucky I’m actually in your area right now. I’ll be there in less than five minutes.” With that, he hung up and changed lanes to take a turn instead of keeping straight, obviously no longer heading towards Liam’s. 

“I hope you don’t mind,” Corey spoke up again. “We have to make a quick pit stop, but I promise once I pick this idiot up we’ll be on our way to yours.” 

Liam wasn’t really sure what was going on, but he was in no hurry to get home, so he shrugged his shoulders in indifference. 

“Yeah, no problem.” 

-

Okay so there was a problem. 

They parked outside an apartment building not even five minutes later, just like Corey had said, and Corey shot off a quick text. Less than a minute later someone was making their way out of the building. When Liam got a look at who it was, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. 

There, under the fluorescent light of the building lamps as he walked up to the car, was none other than fucking  _ Theo Raeken.  _

“What the fuck, thats Theo Raeken.” 

Liam couldn’t believe it. Was Theo who they were picking up? Why the fuck would Corey be picking up Theo Raeken? Didn’t he drive that huge, obnoxious truck?

“Oh, yeah. Sorry I forgot to mention he’s who we’re picking up. He just needs a ride somewhere cuz his truck’s in the shop. Some asshole t-boned his car a couple weeks ago and the truck’s pretty beat up because of it.” 

As the man in question got closer, there were a couple of things that Liam noticed about him. First, and kind of concerning, was the cast on his arm, reaching from his wrist to his elbow. Second, and somehow more upsetting to Liam than the cast, was that Theo was still freaking  _ hot.  _ Hot as all hell, just like he always had been. Liam hated that, because Theo Raeken was a total asshole, but Liam was only a man and it was hard to hate a guy when you also kinda maybe wanted to jump his bones. It was hard, but not impossible. Liam made it work.

Theo Raeken was wearing nothing but grey sweats, a pink hoodie, and some converse shoes as he walked up to Corey’s car. Fuck, even with minimal effort he looked good as all hell. It made Liam’s blood boil.

Theo himself also seemed to notice Liam as soon as he got close enough to the car, and his eyebrows scrunched together when he did.

Ignoring Liam altogether, he went around the car to the drivers side and leaned on the car as peaked his head in through Corey’s window. “Bryant, why the hell do you have Liam Dunbar in your car?” 

Liam hadn’t heard that voice in about three years, but holy shit was it as irritating as he remembered it. Even if it  _ was  _ deep as hell and scruffy from the late hour. 

“Well hello to you too.” Liam muttered, trying to be civil. God, he really hated this guy. 

Corey just rolled his eyes at Theo, probably used to his friend’s rude behavior. Why the hell was Corey even friends with this guy? “I’m giving him a ride home. I told you, he works with me at Sun and Moon now.”

“I thought you were kidding about that.” He said to Corey, then directed his stare to Liam. “I thought your dad was some rich doctor and you were off at college or something. What the hell do you need a job for?”

“What the hell?” Liam exclaimed. 

“Theo!” Corey, yelled, seemingly reprimanding his friend.

Theo shrugged, seemingly unconcerned about whether he was being rude or not. “Just calling it like I see it. What, did you get bored sitting around and diddling your little history books so you decided to come back here and ‘rough it’ for a couple weeks?” He said mockingly. 

“Diddling my history books? What the hell is that even supposed to mean?”

“Theo, why are you being such a dick? He didn’t do anything to you.” Liam thinks that was the closest he had ever heard Corey come to swearing. Does ‘dick’ even count as swearing?

“I wouldn’t say  _ that _ .” Theo struck back. He said it as if he didn’t care whether or not what he was saying was true, but Liam could see a small glint of something in his eyes. Resentment, probably. 

Corey looked like he was probably going to reply to that, but Theo cut him off before he could. 

“Okay, anyways, let’s go.”  _ Good,  _ Liam thought. Theo would get in the back seat now and would hopefully stay quiet for the entire five or so minutes it would take Corey to drive over to his house. 

Except, instead of getting into the back seat Theo started to make his way back to his apartment building. He turned back when he realized no one was following him, and yelled, “You coming, Bryant?”

Liam looked over at Corey, who had his eyebrows in confusion as well, before realization quickly dawned on his face. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” He turned to Liam, who was very much confused, “Wait here. I just got to help him bring something down real quick. Sorry, he didn’t mention any of this. I didn’t know he was going to be such a hassle.” Before Liam could ask any further questions, Corey was out of the driver’s seat and jogging to catch up with Theo.

Liam should have walked home.

-

It was probably five or so minutes later when Theo and Corey finally walked out of the building again, both holding two giant bins filled with… plants? 

“What, Raeken, you some kind of farmer now?” He called out as he heard the two boys open the backseat doors and start placing the bins inside. 

“Something like that.” Liam’s eyebrows shot up at the lack of snark in his answer. It was probably the least hostile the older guy had been to him since he showed up. 

“Just hurry up, dude. I feel bad dragging Liam into all of this.” Corey spoke up from where he was wrestling with one of the bins that didn’t seem to want to fit correctly. 

“Dragged me into wha-” Oh, _ fuck  _ him. Liam had turned to look back at them only to see what kind of plant exactly was inside the bins.  _ Fuck.  _

Liam tried to keep the cool in his voice, not wanting to seem weird. “So, I’m guessing Theo is your friend that sells the weed…”

Corey looked up at him guiltily. “I am so sorry dude you probably didn’t wanna get caught up in all of this.” Yeah, he got that right.

Liam had his seatbelt off before Corey even finished the sentence. “Yeah, well, uh, y’know…”

He opened the passenger side door. “You know what you're actually only like, three blocks from my house, I think I’ll walk from here…”

Corey and Theo both look up at him from where they were standing, Corey with concern and Theo with mild annoyance. 

“No, dude it’s okay I’ll drop you off right now just-” Corey’s backseat was currently filled with about sixteen pots of, well,  _ pot.  _ The deputies in this town were bored and would probably have a field day if they found three twenty-somethings with a car full of cannabis plants. He was not going to risk it. 

“No, it’s fine, really.”

“C’mon dude don’t be such a princess. Nothing’s going to happen, you'll be in the car for like, two minutes.” It was Theo who spoke up now, irritation definitely present in his voice.

Liam felt like a little bitch, really. If this situation had happened not even three months ago, he wouldn’t have batted an eye. And he wasn’t gonna lie, it bugged him to come off like such a loser to Theo. The dude probably wasn’t going to let him live this down any time soon, but he had to get out of this situation before any law enforcement showed up because then he would be in  _ really  _ deep shit.

“Shut up, Raeken.” Liam was almost angry at this point, and slight panic pricked at his chest when he realized that. Okay, now he needed to get out of this situation for two reasons. 

He turned over to give Corey one final glance, hoping to communicate with just his face that he didn’t need to feel  _ too  _ bad about all of this. “Thanks for the ride, Corey.I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

He was turned around and jogging down the street and in the direction of his parent’s house before he could even hear Corey’s response. 

He really,  _ really,  _ should have walked home.


	3. chapter three

“And you’ll still text me every day, right? And facetime me as much as possible?”

“Oh my god, dude. You  _ do _ realize we’ve lived in different cities for the last two and a half years, right? This is not the first time that we’ll be apart.” 

Liam was standing in his driveway, Mason had stopped by so he could see him off as he got ready to make the drive back to UCLA. The school had luckily been on spring break when he had decided to come home to check on Liam, but now it was over and he needed to get back to his studies.

“Yes, but this  _ is  _ the first time you’re more than a couple hours away. I used to be able to drive to you after class on Fridays and spend the whole weekend with you. We’re on opposite ends of the state now.”

Liam resigned to that logic. “I’ll text you every day and facetime you as much as possible.” He confirmed. 

“Good. And remember, there are only six weeks left of the semester.” Mason said it like that was supposed to mean something to Liam.

“...So?” 

“So… so then I’ll be back here. To spend the summer.” 

Liam was shaking his head no before he even realized it. “No, Mason, that's ridiculous. You have that internship lined up this summer.”

“That fell through, I missed the deadline for some paperwork so they dropped me.”

“Mason, you haven’t missed a single deadline in your entire life.” 

“Yeah, okay, well I did this time. Besides, my parents are thrilled with my decision. I haven’t spent more than a week in Beacon Hills since I went off to college. I’ve done an internship every summer. I can afford to take one summer off.”

“You’re just doing this so you can watch over me.” Liam argued, trying to simmer the irritation that was starting to peek it’s ugly head from the corner in his mind where Liam tried to hide it. “I fucking told you already, Mason, I’m  _ fine.” _

Liam said that last word through gritted teeth, and shame quickly filled every inch of him. 

Mason raised his hands in surrender. 

“If you say you are, then I believe you. I won’t bring the college stuff up anymore. But you can’t do anything to stop me from spending my summer here.” 

He was right, and Liam knew it. He felt shitty pushing Mason away, but the last few weeks had been overwhelming and Liam still didn’t feel in control of things, or of his  _ life.  _ He wasn’t ready to bring anyone else into it, not even Mason. But he was still grateful for his friend and he resolved to let him know as much.

“I know,” He replied, now calmer. “I’m sorry, I’m being a dick.” 

Mason didn’t argue with that. 

“The last few days were really nice with you here, Mason. Thank you for coming, I didn’t realize how much I missed having you around.” 

Instead of replying to that, Mason pulled Liam in for one last bro-hug, giving him a quick squeeze to let him know it was alright, before climbing into his car’s driver’s seat. He turned the key in the ignition and the old car came awake with a weak groan, then he turned back to Liam. Something Liam couldn’t point out was written all over his face. 

“It’s not just you, you know.”

“What?” Liam barely heard him, he had said it so quietly. 

“I’m not just coming back this summer for you, I mean.” 

_ Oh.  _ It took Liam a minute to realize what his best friend meant by that. 

“You miss him.” Liam said, matter of factly. Mason gave a small nod in response. They both knew who Liam was talking about. “You want to see if you can get him back.”

“Yes.” 

It settled Liam a bit to know that keeping an eye on him wasn’t the  _ sole  _ reason for Mason sacrificing his summer. 

“Okay, then. See you in six weeks.”

-

A few hours later, Liam was sat in his living room, half-heartedly paying attention to some show he was watching on the tv. He felt numb. He  _ was  _ numb. He wasn’t surprised, though. Lately, if there wasn’t anger or anxiety boiling inside his veins, then there was nothing. Sweet desolation. 

There was a jingle of keys at the front door and his heart sank. His mother was home. 

The door swung open and in walked the one and only Jenna Geyer, in all her realtor glory with some ‘For Sale’ signs being held under her arms. 

She startled when she saw Liam sitting in her living room, like she wasn’t expecting him to be there. Liam wished he wasn’t. 

“Hi, honey, what are you doing home?” 

Liam hated that. He hated to hear her be so sweet to him. Throughout everything that had happened back at UCSB, she hadn’t yelled at him once. Not when she had shown up, not in between all the phone calls she had to make, not even after their meeting at the Dean’s office where they had been informed that Liam was not welcomed back at the university. She hadn’t yelled through any of it, and it killed Liam. He wished she would yell.

“Just watching tv.”

“Oh, I thought you’d be at work or maybe doing your co-’

“Yeah well, I’m here.” 

He felt bad cutting her off, but he couldn’t take it. Not only did she refuse to yell at him, something she had no problem doing in the past (her three hour lecture on responsible drinking the first time he came home drunk comes to mind), but she refused to be up front with him altogether. Instead of straight up saying that she was tired of seeing him laying around the house getting nothing done, she would always try to subtly hint at it instead by suggesting new hobbies or activities, something to get him off his ass. If she was tired of him she could just say that.

“You’ve been  _ here  _ quite a lot lately. When you're not at work, I mean.” There it is. “Have you reached out to your friends? Let them know your back in town?”

“All of my friends from Beacon Hills are away at college, mom.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. The sheriff’s son works at the station with him now.”

“Stiles Stilinski?”

“Yes, him! The funny one.”

“Stiles Stilinski and I aren’t friends, mom.” Liam was getting exhausted just keeping up with this conversation. 

“Sure you are.”

“No, we aren’t. We were just both on the lacrosse team. He didn’t even play most of the time he was practically the waterboy.”

“Oh, but I’m sure there are other people you ca-”

“You know what, I actually have some things I need to do in my room. I’ll talk to you later, mom.” 

-

Upstairs in his room, Liam didn’t feel any better. He tried taking his mind off of things by playing some video games. He died less than three minutes into the game every time. 

Then he tried sitting in his bed and reading. He reread the same page three times before he even realized he had no idea what he was reading. 

He even tried sleeping it off. He figured if he couldn’t feel anything but restlessness and bleakness, he might as well not even be conscious for it. Except, he had already taken two other naps that day, his body was napped out. 

After about forty minutes of this, he decided to call it quits and do what he had been avoiding all day instead. He got up from his bed and walked over to his closet where he still had a lot of unpacked bags full of his things from college. From inside one duffel bag in particular he pulled out an even smaller bag, about the size of a pencil pouch and made of vinyl. He quickly threw on his hoodie with the really big pocket and put the bag inside of said pocket.

He made his way downstairs calmly, not trying to grab his mother’s attention.

“Where are you going?” Damn it. 

His mother was peeking her head through the kitchen, eyebrows knit together in concern. 

“I’m going for a run.” Liam lied.

Jenna’s eyes lit up at the lie, however, and Liam felt like shit right then.

“That’s so great, honey! Do you think you’ll get back into lacrosse?”

“I don’t know mom, it’s just a run.”

-

It wasn’t a run. It was a walk. A walk to the preserve, which was like thirty minutes away. There were about ten different places that he had passed on the walk there that would have made just as good a smoke spot, but something was calling him to the town’s woods instead.

Liam had always liked the Beacon Hills preserve. He liked the still silence that surrounded him whenever he went deep enough into the forest. 

It was funny, because being surrounded by trees and dirt, literal  _ earth,  _ should have made Liam feel grounded. Except, being in the forest never did that for Liam. Instead, the calm and quiet made him feel more lifted, taken away from whatever state of mind he was in and put somewhere else entirely. It was the perfect spot to spend a few hours in while he got high. 

Once he was far enough into the woods, he settled on a large patch of moss and leaves at the bottom of a redwood. There was a very large, smooth rock just next to him that Liam deduced the perfect surface to pack his bow onl.

He took the bag from his hoodie’s pocket and took out the contents inside. He had brought his glass pipe with him this time. He usually preferred his bong, but it was too big to sneak past his mom. She usually wasn’t home when he wanted to smoke so he didn’t often have to worry about it. 

He took the flower from the plastic baggie it came in and then reached for his grinder. However, his grinder wasn’t there.  _ Fuck.  _ He forgot he had left it in his sock drawer where he had also hid his bong after the last time he smoked. 

With a frustrated sigh, he took the nug and started tearing at it himself, trying to make the smallest pieces he possibly could. Damn it, now he wasn’t going to be able to pack the bowl as full as he had wanted to.

He quickly finished packing the bowl and brought it up to his lips. He took his lighter from where it had been sitting on the rock and quickly sparked it’s fire as he brought it over to the bowl, making sure to use his finger to cover the carb hole. He took the biggest hit he possibly could, letting the smoke fill his lungs and sit there for a bit before breathing it all out. 

Pretty soon the bowl was gone, and against his better judgement he was packing another one. It took a bit longer this time since pinching the flower into smaller pieces proved to be more difficult now that he was under its effects. 

It felt nice. It always felt nice, being lifted. It felt even better being like that while he was in the woods, with his head resting on the patch of moss as it tickled his ear. He looked up at the sky, decorated beautifully with the tops of all the trees surrounding him. He thought it was beautiful, just like a painting. 

He smoked the second bowl just as quickly as he had smoked the first and he was really starting to feel it now. Which is when he realized it was probably a bad idea to have smoked it all the way out here. More than anything, weed zonked him out pretty good. Almost every time, without fail, he would eventually fall right asleep once he got high enough. 

He thought about it for a quick second, and easily deduced that a weed nap in the forest didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world. 

He threw his hood over his head and pulled it down so it would cover his eyes. He put his hands under his head so they were being used like a makeshift pillow and then closed his eyes. The world was lovely this way. It was so much better to feel the spacey rush in his veins than to feel the emptiness that hadn’t left him in weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter didn't seem too short. It was much longer but then it was too long so I decided to cut it in half instead. Hope this chapter gave some insight to what's been going on with Li. I promise you'll get some answers soon.


End file.
